


Around the Table

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Age Difference, Community: comment_fic, F/M, Fluff, Found Family, Future Fic, Gen, Rare Pair, Romance, spoilers for 3.23
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-11-04 13:58:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10992342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: Over the years, Joe's family has grown.





	Around the Table

**Author's Note:**

> Theme : episode titles  
> Prompt : Any, any, and then there were 7 ( prison break, 1x 9)

For a long time, they were a family of two. Joe and Iris West, going along as best they could, trying to make ends meet on a cop's salary, raising a daughter when half the time he felt like he didn't have a clue what he was doing. 

Then Barry came along. 

And sure, it was in the worst of circumstances, there was no denying that. Just like being a father figure to a traumatised little boy was perhaps even tougher than being a father to a pre-teen girl, and raising two kids on a cop's salary was even more of a stretch. 

But they made it work. Dinner time became a more lively affair, two kids trying to outdo one another with their stories to impress him, occasionally trying to gang up on him. And they were happy for a long time, that family of three. 

Then Barry became The Flash. 

Barry became The Flash and with that, Joe gained two more mouths to feed - although at least Cisco and Caitlin were grown up enough to at least bring a dish when they came to dinner. Well, Caitlin was anyway, Cisco usually brought the alcohol but generally, after fighting whatever meta human had it in for them that week, that was well received too. 

A year later, their family of five became six when Wally pulled up a chair and in no time it was like he'd always been there. 

That's how it's been even since. Oh, there have been others who came and went - Harry and Jesse still move back and forth between two Earths, Jay Garrick drops in every once in a while, Cindy too. They mention HR sometimes, with fond smiles and laughter, and the mention of his name usually reminds Joe of Cecile. He doesn't mention that and if it happens to the others, they're kind enough not to share. 

The core six, however, have stayed the same, surviving both Flashpoint and Barry's trip to the Speed Force, and the time when Caitlin, powers newly under control, left town to find herself. She'd come back though - Cisco had never lost faith, still reminds her of it every chance he gets - and taken up her usual place around the West family dinner table like she'd never been away. 

Before too long, it became evident to Joe that she'd taken a place not just at his dinner table, but in his heart too. 

It was one of the surprises of his life to learn that she felt the same, but in his life, he's learned not to question a miracle. 

He's reminded of that when he walks into his house one day and finds it strangely silent. For a moment, he thinks there's no-one home but then he walks into the living room and, standing at the couch, he sees Caitlin sitting in her usual chair at the dining room table. She looks up at him and he can tell she's been crying - her face is blotchy and pale, eyes red and with her hands clenched into fists, her knuckles are as white as her hair. 

"What's wrong?" He sits down next to her, takes her freezing hands in his as he runs down all the things that could make her look like that, even as he finds himself thinking that he's seen that look before somewhere, what feels like a long time ago. He just can't remember where. 

When she speaks, her voice trembles with unmistakable nerves, but he thinks he hears something else there too - happiness. 

"I have something to tell you," she says. 

And then, just like that, there were seven.


End file.
